622 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



your factory in Medina, and I am well pleased 

 with them. The improved Hoffman frame is 

 the best that I ever saw, and I have been in the 

 business for eight years. I started first in 

 Morrow Co., O., and have started and built up 

 three different apiaries in that time, with the 

 best of success. I attribute my success to the 

 ABC book and Gleanings, although I have 

 read many other works, and practiced them to 

 a small extent; but when I get puzzled I fall 

 back on the A B C book for information, and 

 hardly ever fail to be successful in my under- 

 taking. As long as I have been in the business, 

 this is the first attempt to write to any paper. 

 Reno, Nevada, July 23. James Clagett. 



WHY THE bees ARE CARRYING EACH OTHER 

 OFF. 



I see my bees are carrying one another off. 

 Two bees will come out of the hive: one has 

 hold of the other, and will pull and tug and 

 buzz away until one gets started with its load. 

 and away they both go. Sometimes they get 

 on the ground in front of the hive. The one 

 can not rise with the other, and they will part, 

 and finally they will rise (both of them) and 

 return to the hive. I have seen a few separate 

 in the air. and both bees will fiy off by them- 

 selves. What does mean? This is carried on 

 extensively, sometimes five or six coming out 

 at the same time, and it would appear as 

 though one half was trying to carry off the 

 other half. They have not swarmed this sea- 

 son, have plenty of brood, both sealed and un- 

 sealed, and some colonies are storing surplus in 

 supers. ;Wm. Miller. 



Emporia, Kan., June 37. 



[We can not suggest the trouble with your 

 bees unless perchance a part of them are affect- 

 ed with bee-paralysis. Bees having this dis- 

 ease are shiny black: their abdomens appear 

 distended, and the legs and wings, particularly 

 the latter, show in some specimens a tremulous 

 motion. Such bees may be found crawling 

 around the entrance and in the grass: and al- 

 though we have never observed it. it is possible 

 that the healthy bec^s may attempt to carry 

 them away in the air. If your bees are not 

 thus affected there is something the matter 

 with those bees that are carried away. Th(>y 

 may have been injured in the brood form.] 



grading HONEY BY COMMISSION MEN. 



Mr. Root:— We think you have hit the nail 

 on the head at last in regard to grading. 

 You say. " Let us hear from commission men 

 especially," or words to that effect. Is not that 

 the way to get the matter solved ? We as bee- 

 keepers may know better than any others what 

 honey Is, and which is the best: but unless we 

 supply the consumer we can not tell how to 

 grade or classify it to suit the trade (for the 

 very object of grading and classification is to 

 be satisfactory to the consumer). This as bee- 

 keepers we can not know; but the man who is 

 a dealer in honey knows it in exact proportion 

 to his experience, and it is to him that we must 

 look for instruction in this matter. The mean- 

 ing of the terms of trade, " fancy." " choice." 

 etc.. may be different from what we understand 

 them to be. and the taste of the public may be 

 different from ours. It is the commission man 

 and dealer who understands these things best. 



A. 



mornings. "He" is fiery red, and sings more 

 beautifully than the Baltimore oriole of your 

 latitude. "She "is more modest in her color- 

 ing, yellow being the prevailing hue. There is 

 another bird, about the size of my scarlet ene- 

 my, who is of a rich blackish brown. His note 

 is also very sweet. These birds subsist entirely 

 on honey. They crush the bee and sip the con- 

 tents of the honey-sac, and then reject the 

 fragments of their victim and catch another. 

 They are far worse than the bee-martin or 

 king-bird, although the latter are bad enough. 

 I kill the bee-martin on sight. The other birds 

 work havoc, but I can't find it in my heart to 

 kill them. 



The robbers raided two weak hives here late- 

 ly. Following a suggestion in the book you 

 sent me, I scented a rag with musk and dropped 

 it into the assaulted hive over night. It worked 

 like magic, and restored peace to the apiaijy in 

 some way. Probably the robbers were killed 

 on their return home. T. S. Ford. 



Columbai, Miss., July 27. 



BEE-ENEMIES AMONG THE FEATHERED TRIBE 

 OF MISSISSIPPI. 



The worst enemy among the feathered tribe 

 that the bees have here is a species that makes 

 the sweetest music for our April and May 



A BEE-KEEPER IN TROUBLE (?). 



Last September I dug a well, and found silver 

 and tin. I have been trying to work it. I find 

 it mostly tin. There is no one here who knows 

 how to reduce the ore. It is in great quantity, 

 beyond estimate. I think fully 6 per cent of 

 the ore is pure tin. Knowing this, I thought it 

 would turn up something before now. We 

 have the best of courage, but no money. If you 

 can tell us how to reduce the ore I shall have a 

 fortune, and pay up and be a life subscriber. 



Sni Mills, Mo., July 19. D. L. Lord. 



[Well, friend Lord, I do not know but that I 

 made a mistake in the heading: In fact. I hope 

 I did. You know I am great on wells and 

 springs, and every thing of that sort. When- 

 ever 1 buy a piece of land I always feel happy 

 in thinking that it is not only so many feet and 

 rods and acres on the surface, but that it is all 

 mine "way down." Whenever I see anybody 

 digging a well. I am always curious to see 

 what there is down under the surface; and had 

 I found tin and silver, as you have. I do not 

 know but I should have neglected my bees and 

 garden, and wasted my money and time, just 

 as you have, may be. But perhaps we had bet- 

 ter hold on a little. Is there not one among the 

 readers ©f Gleanings who can tell friend Lord 

 how to reduce this ore and "get the tin " '^ Of 

 course, I am interested, for he is goiug to take 

 Gleanings all his life — don't you see? and then 

 I want to see him make a success besides; and 

 I want our great nation to have all the tin (and 

 silver too) there is to be had. You see, we are 

 going to need it after a while, even if we don't 

 just now. Now, old friend, when that well of 

 yours gets to panning out, may be I will happen 

 down that way. and you will take me through 

 the whole thing — won't you ? — even down into 

 the well, may be.] A. I. R. 



MOVING TO PASTURES NEW NOT ALWAYS 

 PROFITABLE. 



I thought, for the good of all of those who 

 were thinking of moving to pastures new. es- 

 pecially their bees. I would give you some of 

 my experience. As usual, we began bee-keep- 

 ing witli box hives, three in number; bought 

 and increased to 120 colonies: then got uneasy, 

 and thought we could do better to go south. 

 So we sold off all of our personal property, and 

 went. Tht^ outcome of it all was. we came 

 back here in five months, completely broke, and 

 sold what bees did not get smothered in going 

 down there, for §7.5. We have started to build 

 up another yard, and have six colonies. 



I have read Gleanings so much that I have 



